howling rat

I think you'll find some good info through the Swamp Rat Heritage Sticky thread by Paddling_man at the top of this sub-forum. As he notes, The Swamp Shack is a great resource, but he also lists the initial release prices in the thread, which can be hard to track down.
 
The Gen1 HR with small Choil is the BEST EDC I have had!!! Perfect form, function, get one!
 
Picked up a HRLM a few months ago, and must say its one tough knife- doubt I'll ever come close to pushing it too far. Great knife!
 
the HRLM......w/ an enlarged choil & refined edge it is the perfect knife
misc010.jpg
 
Thanks for all the great info guys! Does anyone know how much this thing is worth or what a pair price is?.............never mind I just looking at the link provided above. I guess I should have done that first!
 
Thats the original sale price. HRLMs are out of production and therefore you can only get them secondary market, so the price is inflated. I bought mine for $190 on the for sale forums and it came with a nice leather pouch sheath. You should expect to pay around $200 for one with a sheath.
This is my beloved HRLM, i stripped and polished the spine:
IMG_1906.JPG

IMG_1911.JPG
 
The HR is an awesome little knife. I find the balance in hand to be perfect.
Get one if you ever have the chance...I should have bought two:thumbup:
 
I'll scare up a shot of my Gen 1 but I can't find any faults with the HR LM either. Here's my keeper with a Leathermen Randall style pouch sheath.
SRKWHRLM_LEATHERMAN_0626.jpg
 
Srkw Howling Rat

Gen 1 - Small Choil
Gen 2 - Larger Choil
Little Mischief - Current Model W/ Micarta Slabs
 
Gen 1 and HRLM are two incredible blades. I'm not sure why the Gen 2 was made with such a large choil, but they are the easiest to acquire. If you can get your rat-claws on a Gen 1 or HRLM do so. I have a few of them and they are worth every penny. They are probably in the top 5 small blades that the Busse family has ever produced.
 
You are making me want to get another on. or two. I need a Gen1, Custom shop w, serrations on the top, and another hrlm for good measure. Especially a muddy one! I guess thats 3.


hrmod.jpg
 
I tweaked the choil on my HRLM, could probably open it up just a hair more. Definitely a worthwhile mod. They do still pop up from time to time, be patient- if you see one with sheath around $200, grab it :)
 
Tan HRs are pretty rare. I've been looking for one for about a 8 months and only seen one come up. It was a Gen 1 user that I wish I would have got my claws on. Keep your eyes open for a Gen 1 black. Awesome.
 
I personally like my HRLM WAY more than the HR-Gen2.

However, I also feel the HRLM was given an unusable choil. There either should have been a much smaller "sharpening" choil with a smaller guard. OR, a larger usable choil.

BUT, the good news (for me), is that I could modify the choil how I prefer it to be. I did not touch the blade edge at all and brought the choil in through the over-sized guard right up to the micarta. This is a VERY worthy modification IMO and makes the HRLM a GREAT knife.

I like the light-weight feel of the Res-C on the HR-Gen2, but I don't care for how far out the blade edge was pushed by the over-sized guard and over-sized choil.

If you line up the index finger grip area sides of the guards on the HRLM and HR-Gen2, the blade edge of the HR-Gen2 is about 0.5" further away from the grip than the HRLM. That is HUGE in my opinion. That gap just makes cutting and using the HR-Gen2 a little odd in the normal grip. I find myself always feeling like I need to choke up into the choil ALL the time.

I consider the handle on the HRLM to be very comfortable. But, it is probably a tad larger than I prefer for a blade this size. However, the basic shape is VERY good and very comfortable and since it is large, I can tweak it a little by removing some handle. It is easier to remove material than add.

I consider the HRLM one of my top 5 Rats - regardless of needing to make a few minor modifications.

And I would probably put the HRLM as THE top small Rat and up in the top 3 or so that I know of for small Busse blades. (*I haven't handle "ALL" small Busse blades, but a few.) But, I have handled all small Rats and Scraps. The SS4 does compete for top honors! But, the HRLM and SS4 are sufficiently different.

.
 
My Gen 2 Howler is my least favorite, never really cared for it, just didn't do anything for me. I even used it exclusively for a few months, but nope, never felt much for it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it, and I cannot put my finger on why I feel that way. I do like its brother, the INFICOOT, but truth be told, the Howler is really a shade more practical. Can't figure it out.
 
I had a Gen-2 for a few months. THe blade was waaay too far away from my hand when holding the knife and then with that honker-choil, choke-up was a PITA.

My HRLM is at Ban's getting rechoiled. It's almost big enuf as-is. A little bit more is all it needs. I don't need a std Busse-sized choil.

Never handled a Gen-1 but almost bot one once. I hesitated just a minute too long.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top